With the globalization of business, industry and trade wherein transactions and activities within these fields have been changing from localized organizations to diverse transactions over the face of the world, the telecommunications industries have, accordingly, been expanding rapidly. Wireless telephones and particularly, cellular telephones have become so pervasive that their world wide number is in the order of hundreds of millions. While the embodiment to be subsequently described relates to cellular telephones, the principles of the invention would be applicable to any wireless personal communication device that could be used to communicate in a cellular telecommunications system. The principles of this invention could also apply to any IEEE 802.11 or similarly capable (i.e., Bluetooth, etc.) and attached computers in the residential setting.
Despite the rapid expansion and the proliferation of wireless telephones, and, particularly, cellular telephones and networks, the industry is in a state wherein available cellular telecommunication resources are expanding more rapidly than consumer demand. As a result, the industry is seeking new and expanded uses for its products. The present invention offers such an expanded application for wireless cellular telephone technology to provide a user the ability to receive telephone calls on a designated wireless telecommunications device, such as a cellular phone, PDA, laptop computer, or other such wireless telecommunications device. The present invention involves any number of peer-to-peer pairings that are established for continuous communication between the wireless communications devices, similarly to an IEEE 802.11 peer-to-peer wireless network. With peer-to-peer networking, a wireless network can use an access point, or base station. The access point acts like a hub, providing connectivity for the wireless communications devices, and can connect the wireless LAN to a wired LAN, allowing wireless communications devices access to LAN resources. Wireless networking hardware requires the use of underlying technology that works with radio frequencies as well as data transmission. The most commonly used standard is 802.11, which is produced by the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE), and is a standard that defines all aspects of Radio Frequency Wireless networking. Since most wireless networking hardware supports the 802.11 standard, most wireless communications devices can inter operate.